When Joe Rogan claimed actor Wesley Snipes backed out of a fight with him due to fear: "He knew I was going to ki** him"
At one point, Joe Rogan was scheduled to face action movie star and amateur martial artist Wesley Snipes. The UFC commentator made the claim on episode #2073 of The Joe Rogan Experience, during which he conversed with YouTube fitness expert Derek from More Plates More Dates.
Unfortunately, as Rogan recounts the tale, Snipes withdrew from the matchup, but not due to a medical drawback. Instead, Rogan alleges that it was fear that kept Snipes from locking horns with him, despite the latter's impressive martial arts background.
"I was supposed to fight Wesley Snipes. That was real. That was lawyers in negotiation. I was training twice a day for six months. It was f***ing hard. I was so tired all the time and I only got a taste of what it's like to train like an MMA fighter, cause I was training knowing that the fight was eventually going to take place. So I was building up a base. So I was kickboxing every morning, and then I was doing jiu-jitsu every night."
When asked why the bout collapsed, Rogan accused Snipes of being too fearful to face him.
"I think cause he knew I was going to kill him. I think in the beginning he thought that he would be able to stuff takedowns and he would kick my *ss. And then he found out I'm a Taekwondo champion. I'm a kickboxer, I'm way better at standing up than I am on the ground."
Check out Joe Rogan's thoughts on facing Wesley Snipes (40:58):
Unfortunately, the fight never panned, which is similar to the much-rumored fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, which is actually what led to the longtime UFC commentator bringin up his own axed bout with Snipes.
Comparing Joe Rogan's martial arts experience to Wesley Snipes'
Despite Joe Rogan's belief that Wesley Snipes was fearful of fighting him, the two have a similar level of martial arts experience. Rogan is a Taekwondo black belt, while also holding black belts in traditional Brazilian jiu-jitsu and 10th Planet jiu-jitsu. Moreover, he was also an amatuer kickboxer and Taekwondo champion.
Check out a clip of Joe Rogan's Taekwondo days:
Meanwhile, Snipes is noted as a fifth-degree black belt in Shotokan karate, which has been used to great effect in MMA by the great Lyoto Machida. Additionally, he also holds a second-degree black belt in hapkido, and has trained in various other martial arts.